Demon Slayer (Rengoku x OC) The Tale of Moriyama

Chapter 7: Mugen Train: Dream first then plan

"I feel kinda loopy to be honest,"

The sky was clear as Moriko looked up at it from the ground level. Her head felt like it was light while her vision of the Moriyama estate had flipped. The sky and land had switched places.

"You can stand normally now." Her sister, Moriyama laughed as walked up to her. "You lasted longer than I thought." She helped Moriko flip and sit back down on the ground. Moriko felt like she needed a moment to get the blood to flow through her body normally. She also felt a bit energized after the handstand.

"Alright," said Moriyama, "Let's go."

Moriko watched in confusion as her sister put on her pale blue haori over her uniform and walked towards the gates with a basket. "Aren't you coming?" she asked, opening the gate.

"Sure," Moriko said, standing up slowly, "Where exactly are we going?"

Moriyama laughed a bit. "Did that handstand exercise make you forget this big day? We're going to the Rengoku estate."

That's when it hit her. Of course. How could I forget we were going to congratulate him on being a Hashira. She rushed out the gates with her sister following behind her.

She remembered how her sister first told her about wanting to spend time with her and they had a conversation a few nights before. Looking back at it now, the fireworks seem brighter and seeing her sister smile while sitting next to her watching them made her feel at home. They talked so much about what they could do and everyday life that the walk to the Rengoku residence lasted seconds.

She opened the gate and ran in to meet the brothers sitting on the porch talking. "Ko-san! Senjuro-san! We brought peaches!" she announced, grabbing the basket from her sister's hand.

"You should definitely try them," Moriko said, showing off the basket filled with peaches.

Her sister laughed at her sister's excitement and walked to the older brother. "Congratulations on getting Hashira rank Rengoku-san. Let's do our best as Hashiras, yeah?"

"Hm!" replied the newly Flame Hashira, "I know we'll definitely do good work together."

"Ugh," commented Moriko, taking a bite out of the peaches, "Grown ups." Senjuro then laughed at her remarks before Kyojuro and Murasaki joined in.

Her 13 year old self had always loved this part. The laughs made Moriko feel like she was safe. Like a warm blanket shielding her from everything that worried her. Looking back, Moriko felt like the four of them were the only ones here and she wanted nothing more. The feeling of nostalgia and the tingling in her stomach came back as she felt the burst of happiness once again. It felt like it was a perfect dream she never wanted to wake up from.

In fact this is how she wanted it to be, however she knew better. The sixth sense in her went crazy as she prepared to regain her consciousness but for some reason she couldn't remember anything besides waking up in a handstand back at home just a few seconds ago. Her head hurt as she tried to imagine the door out. The usual door she uses after dreaming. This was just a lucid dream so why wasn't she waking up? Was this even a dream? Visions of her talking to someone and tying her hand to another with a rope suddenly appeared. What the-

"Moriko! Come here, have some apricots," her sister called out.

"Big sis. Apricots?"

"Yes. What else? Didn't we bring the basket here ourselves?"

Wait. Apricots were definitely my favorite but big sis is allergic to it. Where did it even come from?

Her senses were tingling as if yelling in her head that this is wrong and it was a trap and she felt her anger grow as her blood began to boil.